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By amorriso
#14000
Put elastic strips on the outside of the knees and ankles of sweat pants. This will store some of the energy when you land as you are running, because when you hit the ground your knees and ankles flex. Then it will be easier to take the next step. The contraction of the elastic would help you push off from the ground better, because you extend your knees and ankles to push yourself off the ground to take your next stride. You should be able to run faster. It might also take some of the strain off your knee and ankle joints, because it would cushion your landings.

It would be important to anchor the sweatpants in place so they don't ride up or down as you run. You could anchor them below by making them fit over the foot like a stocking and anchor them above with suspenders. You also wouldn't want to make the elastic too stiff or the person couldn't bend their legs properly. If you could just store maybe 40% of the energy when they hit the ground in the elastic it should be enough to make it significantly easier for them to push off the ground for the next stride.

Reward: A pair of these sweatpants
#14280
I'm fairly sure that the elastic strips on the outside of the ankles would work because they would just be doing the same thing as the achilles tendon is doing anyway. I'm not so sure that the elastic strips on the outside of the knees are a good idea.
#14623
NO!! Wearing a hoodie and sweat pants would be murder in the summer. No matter how well you're hydrated, you'd be putting yourself at a serious health risk. Just use lots of sunblack, and wear a hat or something, but DO NOT wear a hoodie and sweat pants. You're just asking for trouble if you wear that.
#14659
To move forward with something like this, you will want to study gait and clinical movement analysis. Human gait is pretty complex, but you can get a start in an hour or so with a decent overview.

I was intrigued myself to learn that a large percentage of work done by muscles is opposite to the motion of the limb. When you do curls with a dumbbell, your bicep works hard to lift the weight, but also works to slowly let the arm extend and lower the weight. The same is true in gait.

Orthopedic surgeons do some incredible things these days, like moving one lobe of the quadricep around to the side of the knee, which allows leg extension to work properly for walking, but not while the leg is lifted, which solves countless problems for people with spasticity and such (as with some types of cerebral palsy).


Anyway, yes, I would think there is a possibility for adding strength/speed through the use of elastic straps (and robotics, as we have already seen with current exoskeleton research). Just get yourself a background in gait and you are on your way.
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